How the First Day Of School Almost Didn't Happen
by dcat8888
Summary: Mark attempts to return to school after moving back in with the Judge, who has offered to pay for his tuition. (This takes place after the last episode of the series)


How The First Day Of School Almost Didn't Happen

By dcat

Notes: With the new school year looming, I got the title in my head, before the story! Hardcastle and McCormick do not belong to me. I miss these guys though! Hope you enjoy the story.

Technically, this wasn't the first day of school, as I'd already had a semester under my belt, but now it seemed new, with this arrangement from the Judge, his generous offer to bankroll my education and my moving back into the gatehouse. It was truly a reality. I was going to become a lawyer, something in my wildest dreams I never thought would be a possibility, and here it was upon me. And it wasn't just about me anymore, it hadn't been for these past few years, I couldn't fall back on the excuse that I couldn't afford it or any other lame reason I could invent. I had to find it within me to get my diploma and pass the bar and not for Hardcastle, but for myself.

I still didn't quite seem to grasp it, even after three years. What motivated this man, Milton C. Hardcastle, to completely extend his time, talent and treasure on me, Mark McCormick? I thought about it a lot over the summer and never came up with a definitive answer, but I certainly had a lot of theories.

It had been a relatively quiet summer. The two of us managed to muddle our way through two of his old case files, also part of the new arrangement, ('Hey kiddo, a free ride to college doesn't mean there's no work involved, get out of bed and let's go catch us some bad guys,' was a new, almost daily battle cry.) One of his cases earned the two of us another commendation from the police and our picture in the paper. Well, you could see Hardcastle's face, me, I was the guy in the background pushing the drug dealer's head into the hood of the Coyote. Hardcastle said it was my better side anyway.

It didn't matter as I said I had other things on my mind. School and Hardcastle.

The second case was even trickier. That was a week ago and the Judge knew that I was more focused on the upcoming fall semester and the books I still needed to purchase, rather than busting bad guys. He'd promised to accelerate things with Bruno Harvent in order to 'clear my calendar,' something I wish he hadn't done, because it basically meant putting our lives into another dangerous and deadly situation.

And that is exactly what had happened.

We were tailing Harvent as he left town, not knowing that his associates were on our tail until it was too late. Bruno sped away and the 4 cars swooped in all around us. Bruno's goons chased us off the road, the Judge was driving his pick-up as they begin to play a deadly game of pickle with us, bumping and pushing us for several miles. We bounced off the guard rail on the PCH, only about a mile from Gull's Way. We slid about 200 feet and then rolled down into a ravine, landing upside down. It was about three hours until rescue personnel and police came upon us.

For a change, I came away fairly unscathed. I had a concussion that kept me over night in the hospital, along with some bumps and bruises, but nothing broken.

Judge Hardcastle was not as lucky.

As we waited to be rescued, I tried everything I could think of to arouse him, but it didn't take me long to realize that a bandage wasn't going to fix the Judge this time. I kept talking to him as much as I could, and checking to make sure he was breathing, no matter the awkward positions we had both landed in.

When the fire engine arrived, it took firefighters another two hours to extricate him from the truck. His injuries were mostly internal and severe, including head trauma and he also had a broken shoulder. The paramedics were hero's that day because they used the utmost care and caution as they attempted to remove him, at least as much as I could tell.

I was fading in and out of consciousness, wishing that I could help and wishing that I had done more for this man in the last three years. I just wanted to know why the answer to the questions I'd had all summer long, or the whole time I'd known him. I guess I kept shouting it out during the rescue or some sort of facsimile of that that the paramedics had to plead with me to quiet down. Concussions do strange things to people's heads. I wouldn't let them send me to the hospital until they got him out of the truck.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw them slide him onto a backboard. He was unconscious and there was some blood trickling out from his right ear and his mouth. They assured me he was alive. To keep me calm, they put us both in the same ambulance.

The next morning I awoke in the hospital and asked about him. The nurses were prepared. He was in serious but stable condition, still unconscious. They told me as soon as the doctor came in to examine and release me, that I could then go see him. It wasn't soon enough.

A week later, Judge Hardcastle is still in a coma.

I have been here at his bedside in the ICU nearly non-stop. He's had four surgeries since being brought in, and his internal bleeding has stopped, but with his head injury and age, things are still touch and go. His doctor's say he is healing slowly and everything is to be expected given the sort of accident we had and his subsequent injuries.

It's the day after Labor Day, the first day of classes and my first class this semester is a night class that starts at 6:05pm. Most of my classes are on MWF.

After 3pm and as much as I don't want to go to class, I know I have to. It's what the man paying the bills would want me to do to.

I wish there'd be some sort of improvement that the Judge would show. I'm writing all this down to document this for Professor Gehring. I had him last semester and he's been pretty understanding in the past with other students in similar situations.

I look over to the Judge, who just looks like he's sleeping.

'Why Judge, why me, why any of this?'

The quiet of the room lulls me off to a quick cat nap of my own. About 4:45pm I stand up and stretch and gather myself together. There's no change.

I walk out to the nurses station and tell Alice, who has been the Judge's evening nurse for the past three nights, that I am going to my class. I give her three phone numbers to call in case there is any change and she assures me that she will, but also that I should go and that everything would be alright.

I nod and thank her.

The class is full. I got there early enough to grab a seat near the door. All I have is a notebook and a pen to take notes with. I still haven't gotten the book. Professor Gehring comes in and says hello and tells me he's glad to see me back. This isn't the time to tell him, so I give him a smile and a nod.

He goes non-stop for about 90 minutes, exhorting us to spend some quality time with the law library to understand as many cases as we can. He goes through three obscure, but relevant cases, bit by bit, to reinforce his point.

Given that it is the first class of the semester, he lets us go a little earlier than normal.

I wait impatiently for the entire class to leave and head up to speak with Gehring to tell him what is going on. He personally knows Hardcastle and has heard, and is actually surprised that I was in class. He is as understanding, as I thought he would be.

I head back to the hospital and it's as if nothing had changed. Alice was right.

Someone had moved the chair I used back by the window and I pulled it back alongside the Judge's bed and sat down in it. And I went back to wondering.

Several more hours passed. Darkness set in. Alice stopped in and put on one small light, off in the corner. I mustered up a thanks and a smile for her. She checked his vitals and adjusted his IV and off she went to her other patients.

'I just do, that's all,' Hardcastle mumbled.

"What?' I suddenly looked over to him. His eyes were still closed, he looked the same. I must be hallucinating.

'Did you go to class?'

His eyes began to flutter open.

'Yeah, yeah I did," I answered, 'What did you just say?'

'For crying out loud McCormick, did you start school today?'

I chuckled, 'Yeah, I did, but how did you know it was today and what did you say before?'

'McCormick, you're a broken record, I've been listening to your yammering all week long, why can't you listen to the doctors and nurses and give me a break?' He gruffed, gaining more strength with every word he spoke. Before I could ask him again, he repeated. 'I just care, okay, that's it, it's no deep secret. Now get outta here and let me heal.'

'But,' I began and he interrupted again.

'We're not doing this now, I need to rest, you need to go to school. We both care, that's just how it is, now go home.'

I stood up and he was back asleep, or maybe unconscious, I don't know, I didn't want to rouse him or his ire and I had my answers. It was time to go back to school.

The end.


End file.
